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Zagato Unrhymed
=Story= Pre-Campaign Saying Goodbye Zagato grew up in Whitecrest as the only child in the highly religious noble house of Unrhymed. Though his father Dexian Unrhymed served Paladine, Zagato always took after his mother, Alexandria more, as evidenced by having her wavy black hair, and followed her footsteps into the Church of Ehlonna. Zagato began to serve his chosen goddess as a youth and, when he came of age, he began to go on pilgrimages to not only seek enlightenment on a spiritual level, but to also help people in need as his chosen oath dictated. When Zagato returned home one day, he was stopped on his way into town by childhood acquaintance and local guard Barrett Eldershaw who informed him that his mother had passed away from Blackrot, an extremely rare strain of plague. Dexian's assistant at the church, the Senior Priestess Beatrix Blackfrost, quickly quarantined the body to prevent the virus from contaminating others. Due to the nature of the virus that took her, Alexandria's funeral was a closed casket affair and she was laid to rest in the tombs underneath Whitecrest's cathedral. Zagato remained in town to try and pick up where his mother left off and to assist his father, who never seemed the same after his wife's passing. The lord-in-waiting began to neglect his duties at the cathedral, placing an increased workload on Beatrix Blackfrost. Dexian remained a shadow of his former self and was never able to get over losing Alexandria. When it became clear to Zagato that his broken father wasn't a harm to himself or others, he decided to continue his journey across the kingdom and began another pilgrimage. While the pilgrimage itself was hugely successful and Zagato visited many cathedrals in his travels, he was again met with bad news upon returning to Whitecrest. Upon his return, Beatrix Blackfrost had taken the man aside to inform him that Dexian had passed away quietly, with many in the town believing that he had passed away simply from having a broken heart for too long. Dexian had been buried in the town's cemetary, attended by Zagato, Beatrix and the cathedral staff, and Alexandria's father Lord Cristoff Prescott. The Last Pilgrimage After the passing of his father, Zagato once again left Whitecrest despite the fact that he was poised to become Lord of Whitecrest once the then Lord of Whitecrest, his grandfather Cristoff Prescott, would pass away. Zagato's pilgrimage continued, taking him to all corners of Stromgarde. When he was bound for Whitecrest at the end of his latest journey of enlightenment, slavers from Albion ambushed him on the road, subdued him, and began their trek back home with their new slave in tow. Chapter 1 Go West Young Men! Zagato arrived in Salt Town as a slave in 270 AP. Over the course of the next few years, he grew to know many of the slaves who would come and go. He took an apparent interest in fellow slave Farrah Ibrams, but pursuing anything with the woman was next to impossible due to being under constant watch from guards. Zagato survived for another four years until Ehlonna 15, 274 AP when he witnessed fellow slaves Axom Holtcroft, Aysha Morose, and Salem Solstice appearing to be plotting something within the salt mine. After nearly getting the trio in severe trouble when they had murdered a guard, Zagato learned that Aysha was plotting an escape attempt. Aysha had befriended Axom Holtcroft and Heidal Trueblood, both of whom were interested in escaping. The trio formulated a plan to escape that involved faking a dragon attack via Aysha and Axom using their magic (Salt Town staff were unaware that Aysha had innate magic, and Axom had broken his magic-blocking shackles and created an illusion to make them appear intact). Prior to the escape, Salem and Zagato Unrhymed became roped into the plot and were able to escape alongside Aysha while Heidal attempted to round up others and Axom held off the guards. The trio wasted no time in brutally murdering Slave Town's director, Badrick Longfellow, in his office before fleeing into the mountains. The trio trekked through the mountains, followed by some forests, before eventually stumbling upon the coast and finding the small hamlet of Port Albion. From there, they boarded The Gallant and proceeded to Moss Port where they all decided to do contract work for the Iron Company to pass time while waiting for the next ship bound for Stromgarde to arrive. While in Moss Port, the group encountered Dathan Swiftspirit, a High Elf ranger who agreed to help the trio complete work for the Iron Company on account of being a mercenary himself. Unexpectedly, Dathan was quick to disappear without a trace after the group completed a number of contracts. After departing from Moss Port aboard The Intrepid, Aysha offered to help pass the time by giving the two Dragon Dew. Both Salem and Zagato suffered from extreme trips, with Zagato believing himself to be in the water and mistaking Salem for various huggable sea creatures. When the trio later awoke, they found the ship sitting still in the ocean and being attacked by undead. Aysha volunteered to stay below deck with frightened passengers while Salem and Zagato investigated further. After teaming up with the ship's first officer, Arn Shortmont, they explored the apparent ghost ship that the undead had boarded from. In the belly of the ship, an orb was encountered with what appeared to be a slumbering lich on the floor behind it. When the orb was broken, the lich quickly shot to the ground and posed an immediate threat. Zagato, being a paladin, promptly engaged the lich and became paralyzed from its magic. As Zagato fought to free himself and Salem tried reasoning with the undead being, Arn found himself frozen in fear. Just as Zagato was able to free himself from the paralysis, the lich struck Arn with the Disintegrate spell, killing him instantly despite only being grazed by the blast. As Arn collapsed lifelessly on the floor, Salem and Zagato fled back to The Intrepid as it drifted away from the ghost ship. Odd Jobs in Eastern Stromgarde After landing in Lioncrest, the group pondered what to do next. After winding up in a local inn to think things over, Salem was approached by a woman who introduced herself as Isabella Magdeline from Meksicburg. Aysha and Zagato watched Salem go upstairs with her, where he remained for a few hours before storming downstairs with little clothing on. Upon meeting with Zagato, the pair spoke to a guard and discovered that the woman, really a scheming vagrant named Kravik Scragmane did this sort of thing often and delighted in tricking people. Zagato proceeded to enter the local cathedral where, with the help of Janus Galbraith, he sought to earn Ehlonna's forgiveness for him playing a part in the events that led to Arn Shortmont's death. After a confusing vision where he was confronted by his smiling goddess, he returned to reality unsure of what it even meant. When Salem and Zagato awoke the next morning, they found themselves short a member after Aysha left them in the middle of the night. Unsure of what else to do, they simply did jobs for the Iron Company to make some money. One such contract involved slaying rust monsters in a windmill, which Zagato was hugely unprepared for. After the rust monsters all piled on top of him and corroded his armor, Zagato found himself wandering off the the blacksmith to drop over one thousand gold on a new set of armor before leaving town. Not far outside of Lioncrest, the pair stumbled upon an injured gnoll on the side of the road who was nursing a bleeding flesh wound on his leg. Salem prepared to launch a firebolt at the gnoll, but was stopped by Zagato. The pair was then ambushed by a small pack of lobos, which the gnoll helped defeat. Escorting the gnoll back to his village in the woods, they found it engulfed in flames. Salem was forced to assist Zagato in avenging the gnoll's fallen people by attacking the mercenaries responsible. After the three of them were victorious, they managed to interrogate one survivor who said that a necromancer was paying them to collect corpses for him. The mercenary was swiftly killed, and the gnoll revealed that his name was Razz after writing it in the dirt. After some careful tracking and interrogating another lone mercenary, the trio found their way to the den of the necromancer. The group descended into the cavernous lair, eventually finding the necromancer and slaying him. With Razz apparently having nowhere to go and deciding to follow Salem and Zagato, the three made their way further north. Close to nightfall, they reached The Wayfarer's Rest where they decided to spend the night. Zagato approached the counter, where owner Del Farrell and another man were conducting a scrying ritual, and rudely blurted out "do you have food?" in their general direction. Del expressed deep frustration at Zagato's lack of manners, but later helped him with a scrying ritual. Zagato decided to scry on Aysha Morose, who he saw doing nothing more than sitting against a tree in the woods and seemingly trying to rest. The group continued along on the road for some time the next day, eventually reaching Pyrebrook where the met local guard captain Keaton Heathcliff. Keaton explained to them that they should just pass on through since Pyrebrook was in the middle of trying to solve a werewolf problem. The group decided to help, staking out the chicken enclosure at night and giving chase to the werewolf when it emerged. The lycanthrope was tracked deep into the woods where it hid in a cabin. After a devastating joint attack from Keaton and Salem, the werewolf perished. Zagato had been bitten by the werewolf during the encounter, but was hastily cleaned of any potential curse of lycanthropy in Pyrebrook's cathedral. Upon further travel north, the group reached the town of Elmshire. Through conversing with Gabrielle Prost and Lord Lambert Rayner, they learned that Elmshire Castle had recently developed a demonic presence for reasons unknown to the townsfolk. Lord Lambert's wife, Trista Rayner, decided to investigate on behalf of the local Cathedral of Aureon. Trista did not return from the castle, and had been missing for a number of days. With Gabrielle's assistance, the party entered the castle and put down several fiends before finding Trista Rayner in the basement hacking away at dead guards. They quickly learned that she had been possessed by a shadow demon, which immediately attacked them. After having the jump between bodies and controlling most of them at some point, they were successful in defeating the demon and rescuing Trista Rayner. Upon returning to Elmshire, Lambert Rayner was overjoyed to have his wife returned alive. Zagato was rewarded with the deed to Elmshire Castle. Lambert introduced Zagato to Elmshire's retired stewart, Milton Bedford, who would serve as the castle's administrator and treasurer. Milton introduced Zagato to his castle staff and instructed him to select a guard captain from several candidates. After this was done, Gabrielle asked for permission to establish a chapel within the castle for general worship of any god or goddess. Zagato agreed to allow it, and Gabrielle found herself being given a room near the courtyard to do with as she saw fit. After the group spent the next day getting used to the castle that was now under their control, they set out for Masondale to the west in search of more work. Zagato and the others eventually reached the town and assisted them in rescuing labourers who had been abducted by a withered mindflayer trying to start a new colony. With the intention of reaching Westmarch in their minds, Zagato instructed the group to move out and continue westward. The Umbral Covenant Strikes When Zagato brought his group to the town of Hornmill, they found a woman confined to the stockade outside and sought information. Their search brought them to the estate of Lord Rowan Barlow. The group learned that Rowan was in the process of starting a revolution to reform Lenadia out of Eastern Stromgarde. He sent his demands to Queen Isildra Blackmont demanding that his terms be met and that Lenadia would be free to break away from Stromgarde centuries after it was absorbed by the kingdom. If the Queen failed to comply, Rowan would execute the woman detained outside, who the group learned was Ivy Morres, a prominent noblewoman from Westmarch. Zagato decided to play Rowan and pretend to be on his side to get more information and, at Salem's insistence to side with Queen Isildra over a mere lord, the group concocted a plan to set Ivy loose. The next day, the group set Ivy free with the intention of having Razz run into the woods with her. Prior to executing this plan, Ivy asked the two to retrieve a rapier known as Requiem for her due to it being an heirloom that had been in the family for years. while Salem and Zagato returned to Rowan's estate to meet with him. After getting him into his fenching hall, the two promptly killed him and made off with not only Requiem, but a handful of Rowan's own rapiers. Salem and Zagato then promptly met up with Ivy and Razz in the forest to return Requiem, at which point Ivy expressed that she was investigating the Umbral Covenant, much to Salem's confusion. Salem and Zagato then quickly returned to their wagon and rode it outside of town to pick up Razz and the weakened Ivy before fleeing towards Westmarch. When the group reached Westmarch, they were quick to seek an audience with Queen Isildra Blackmont thanks to the presence of the influential Ivy Morres. Queen Isildra thanked Salem and Zagato for dealing with Rowan Barlow and returning Ivy Morres to the capital, and then promptly invited them to her nightly royal feast. It was at this point that everyone split up to see the sights of Westmarch until it was time to attend the feast. Zagato worked his way to Cress, the Tiefling community along Westmarch's outer walls, where he inquired about Aysha. After speaking with the current minister of Cress, Theomer Mavirsk, Zagato learned that she had indeed returned to the city. His search for her led him to the sewers, where he found Aysha in a private hiding space. It was here where she revealed to him that Joffrey Penstone was responsible for him being sold into slavery, and she explained how she believed Queen Isildra to be responsible for her deportation. Aysha explained her dream of there being a place where anyone could live without fear of being subjected to discrimination, harassment, or violence. She wished for there to be a place where everyone could live in peace together. This led to her revealing her plan of assassinating Duke Fargo Albion VII, eliminating the Albion Slave Trade, and turning Albion into the land that she sanctuary that she dreamed of. Zagato agreed to assist her. After leaving the sewers, Zagato made his way to the castle where he met up with Salem and Razz. The party ventured to the royal dining hall where they were promptly seated after various shenanigans from Salem. Throughout the meal, Salem and Razz were openly horsing around as Ivy came to sit with them. Zagato chose to ignore the trio, instead briefly making small talk with Stromgarde's High Arbiter Garrett Clade before eating. While everyone was dining, a figure quietly crept into the open window overlooking the city below and fired an arrow at Queen Isildra. As a result of Salem quickly shouting when he detected the arrow, the Queen was able to move slightly and avoid taking it to the heart. She was quickly rushed out of the room as Highlord Estevan Morres ordered a sweep of the room and the party detained. The group was detained for some time in the castle dungeon before guard captain Borus Cordona released them and indicated that they were no longer suspects in the attempted assassination of the Queen. Ivy greeted the party, though quickly rushed out of the room after being told that the attacker may have been with the Umbral Covenant. Now that the party was free, Zagato decided to take Salem and Razz and meet up with one of Aysha's associates who she informed Zagato to look for. Back to Albion After waiting at a fountain within the city's walls for several hours, it dawned on the group that they were probably at the wrong location. Doubling back to the stables on the other side of town, they did not see anyone out of the ordinary who may have been Aysha's accomplice. Instead, the group took notice of Axom Holtcroft staring at them from atop the city wall. The group chose to distance themselves from Axom, eventually finding their way outside of the west gate where they finally found Aysha's accomplice, a man named Jaffer Ignair, who agreed to take them to Aysha. After some time, they finally met up with Aysha had also gathered Oren Hegdar and Mavis Kerr at Mander Wharf northwest of Westmarch. There the group boarded The Gallant and began a long trek east. As they pulled away from shore, Axom Holtcroft returned, this time on a red dragon, and appeared to lock eyes with Salem. They remained as such until they were out of sight. Ten days later, the group arrived at Morose Station and met with Aysha's father, Aldrich Morose, who had agreed to assist his daughter in her ambitions. After spending the night, the group departed with Aldrich boarding his own vessel with his own accomplices. Upon reaching the Albion shore, Aldrich divided their forces into two groups. Mavis and Oren joined up with Aldrich's group while Aysha was to lead Jaffer, Salem, Zagato, and Razz. Aldrich's group chose to skirt around the desert while Aysha's team voted 4-1 to cross the desert to save time. When the two groups met back up outside of Sardonis, Aldrich informed Aysha's team that Mavis and Kerr had perished in an encounter with multiple drakes. When night fell on the groups, they both prepared to sneak into Albion Castle in Sardonis. After Aldrich's group left to get a ten minute head start on the north side of the castle, Aysha's group climbed the wall and entered through the south. Entering the castle, they encountered former Salt Town guard Lars Kofroy who admitted to only working there because good work was hard to come by in Albion. After frightening Lars off, the group found and killed Brutus Blackfoot, the director of the Albion Slave Trade. From there, they ventured to the throne room to confront Duke Fargo Albion VII himself. It was at this time that Aldrich's group came in behind Aysha's, with Aldrich revealing that he was a slaver working for the Duke all along and that the deaths of Mavis and Oren were each deliberate murders rather than accidents. After Salem devastated Aldrich's group and a battle broke out, Aysha found herself being targeted repeatedly by her father. There was no love between the two as Aldrich brought Aysha to within an inch of death not once, but twice. When Aldrich, Duke Fargo, and General Grad Dumont were defeated, Aysha found herself sitting on the throne. It was here that Jaffer and Lars both swore themselves to her and vowed to help her transform Albion into something new. Chapter 2 Rise of Lenadia After returning to Elmshire Castle, Zagato familiarized himself with new castle staff members Jebediah Driskel and Eldar Tharaxian. He then promptly organized a feast to be held that night to celebrate their success, enjoy a little downtime, and for Zagato to try and get to know Ivy Morres a little better after she too arrived in Elmshire. Zagato found himself offending Salem slightly when Zagato chose to have Ivy sit at the front of the room with him rather than Salem. During the feast, Zagato made small talk and coerced Ivy into dueling him. After the feast, the two met outside of Elmshire Castle and engaged in their duel. Zagato was swiftly (and embarrassingly) humiliated by Ivy. He swore that he would best her next time. The next day, Salem and Zagato met with Ivy Morres, Lord Lambert Rayner, and Lord Victor Whitemane to discuss the Eastern Stromgarde Initiative, a plan that was hatched to to combat Ethan Hale's attempts to have Eastern Stromgarde separate from the rest of the kingdom. Together, they vowed to establish... * A world class ranch in Elmshire. * Access to the ocean via a new dock east of Elmshire. * Add fighting pit access to the towns of Elmshire and Lioncrest and a colosseum in Masondale. * Iron Company offices in much of Eastern Stromgarde. Hearing that this initiative was holding a fighting tournament in Masondale on the Day of the Sun, Zagato departed for the town after narrowly remembering to bring Salem and completely forgetting to bring Razz along. Category:PC Category:Male Category:Paladin Category:Human Category:Church of Ehlonna Category:Inhabitant of Zeltennia Category:Inhabitant of Stromgarde Category:Party Member